Wishing on the Moon
by zippystripe
Summary: The Moon did strange things to the psyche. LeexGaara Yaoi Oneshot


Comments: Uhm, just a little oneshot I wrote for the hell of it. This is what happens when Beau doesn't write for weeks. You get an explosion of fluff and metaphors and other stuff you learn about in English and forget the name of later on.

Gaara walked slowly around the unfamiliar alleys of Konoha, glancing up at the sky occasionally and looking for the moon for comfort. Even though his habit of staring at the moon on dark nights like these was really to calm the untameable demon within him, it was also rather soothing for Gaara himself; a peculiar substitute for sleep, perhaps.

His feet padded on the pavement quietly - a sound which was strange without the usual crunch-against-concrete of sand beneath his sandals. He almost longed for it like he longed for sleep, but he mentally shook his head, as though it would stop the merging of the demon's mind and his; something which he had to watch out for when the veil began to thin like this. Diplomatic trips like these were difficult, because Shukaku missed the desert; missed the raw, unforgiving, barren wastelands of sand that missed the rain like a lover sent out to war.

He side-stepped several empty sake bottles that were lying on the street, gently pushed away a stray cat with his ankle which brushed against him affectionately and tried to ignore the loud music coming from the buildings either side of him. It was a lot louder than Suna here. Of course his village had nightclubs and bars, but his civilians tended to be slightly calmer than the inhabitants of Konoha, it seemed. Gaara brushed the thought away as quickly as it came; partying and drinking was another of those silly human things he didn't understand, and those things tended to annoy him.

Eventually, the houses and streets began to get sparser and sparser, and he was soon at the foot of the wood, where huge trees towered above him and blocked the view of the sky. Gaara jumped a few feet onto a branch, then to another and to another until he was high up amongst the treetops, leaping from one to another fast until he found a suitable tree, one on the edge of a clearing with a vast view of the sky and the moon.

He perched on the top of the tree and made himself comfortable (or as comfortable as he could be with the gourd on his back) and began to take in the sight of the moon. But before he could begin to properly breathe it in, his ears twitched, shinobi instincts picking up on a presence. It didn't feel hostile, but Gaara would rather not have his personal time interrupted by stray shinobi practicing in the training grounds after hours.

So he pressed two fingers to his forehead and began to form the beginnings of the optical nerve for his Third Eye technique. Once the eye was fully formed, Gaara began to look around with it, the small eyeball roving around and looking in the direction of the presence. It quickly picked up on a green, black haired figure sitting on a log in the training grounds ahead, drinking from a bottle. Upon closer inspection, it looked quite familiar.

"Lee," Gaara called, not a shout, but loud enough for the other boy's sensitive ears to pick up on.

Gaara released the Third Eye after he saw Lee glance up, unsurprised but smiling, like he knew exactly where Gaara was in the forest. The eye disintegrated into a ball of sand as Lee jumped up into the trees, climbing a few branches before he rested on the one that Gaara was perched on comfortably. The Kazekage did not look up at him; he simply stared on ahead at the sky.

"Hello, Gaara-I mean, Kazekage," Lee said, standing straight. "What brings you to the training grounds?"

"I was looking for a good view of the moon," Gaara replied, "and please don't call me Kazekage. We're closer than that." He finished, finally looking up at Lee with illuminated green eyes.

"Ah- gomen," Lee replied, and sat down beside Gaara on the tree branch quietly. After a few minutes silence, he began to fidget - his restless nature made sitting with someone as quiet as Gaara quite difficult sometimes.

Gaara, on the other hand, was drinking in the sight of the moon like it was some kind of mystical being. The sky was deep and purple; a dark, silk blanket over muscle-like clouds that rolled torridly across the starlit heavens, as though the redhead were a voyeur, surreptitiously peeking at the pale skin of the moon. He could feel the moonlight washing through him, caressing him lovingly like it did the waves. The beast within him was not at peace, but it was tranquil enough for Gaara to relax, even a tiny bit.

Gaara sighed disappointedly as the moon was embraced by darkness once again, the light temporarily gone. He turned to Lee with a slight, sheepish smile on his face; realising that he could spend as much time as he could with it at home, but that his time with Lee was limited. They didn't always speak when Gaara visited; sometimes they just enjoyed each other's company. They certainly didn't speak of things like what brought the two together, why they enjoyed each other's company so much or why they even trusted each other to sit like this.

"The moon is beautiful, isn't it," Lee said when Gaara turned to face him. Lee had been studying the other boy's face as he watched the sky with childlike wonder that only he could see.

Gaara nodded fractionally, not wanting to speak at the moment.

"To tell you the truth, sometimes I come to train here at night just so I can see it like nobody else does," Lee explained, looking up at the leaning back a bit more leisurely now.

Gaara nodded again. "I watch it because it calms Shukaku," Gaara said bluntly, ignoring the slight bristle in Lee's demeanour at the name.

Lee cocked his head to the side a few minutes later and studied Gaara's profile carefully. He admired the way his face, half silhouetted, was so finely cut out against the sky, an attractive bump in the shadowy horizon created by the canopy of trees. He tentatively lifted a hand to gently tuck some of the red locks away from his face. The lack of light made Gaara's hair a deep blood red, and his skin was like greyish porcelain in the darkness. Lee giggled softly as he remembered how short Gaara's hair used to be and how never would have imagined Gaara's hair becoming so long.

Gaara tensed slightly at the touch, not remembering the feeling of contact so well. It had been a while since he'd been touched like this… how long was it? Three, four, five months? It didn't matter. All that mattered was Lee's rough finger tips slightly brushing the top of his ear as he tucked a lock of hair around it. He shivered, and after a moment he took Lee's hand in his slowly, pressing his cheek into the bandaged palm like a cat delighting in a rare treat of catnip.

Lee smiled widely, softly, hoping that this visit would push the bond that extra bit further- he could feel his affections bubbling beneath the surface and had done for a while. And if the way Gaara behaved towards him was any indication- allowing him to sit with him like this, walking with him around Konoha, sitting close to him conscientiously while they hanging out with his generation of shinobi, and allowing him to touch him softly like this- perhaps Gaara felt something too.

But Lee still felt like that was wishful thinking. Gaara didn't properly identify feelings, so if he did feel anything at all then he probably didn't realise it. In any case, he scooted a bit closer and cupped Gaara's face with his other hand, stroking his cheek with a thumb softly. Gaara looked up at him with eyes that were somewhere between blank and unsure. Lee leant in slowly, before he rested his lips against Gaara's thin ones hesitantly, first kiss uncertainty at the front of his mind.

Gaara blinked his half closed eyes, not shocked but intrigued as to why this felt so calm. Maybe it was the moon..? He had imagined it in his mind before, only once, curious after strange things happened in his mind after their first evening spent like this, many months ago now. He closed his eyes after a moment, but didn't move his mouth. Lee sucked on his bottom lip tenderly, and Gaara clung to his wrists firmly, uncertainty leaking from his subconscious. After a few more seconds, Lee pulled away, and rested his forehead against Gaara's quietly, not looking at his still-closed eyes, but at their hands joined together.

C&C is much appreciated ^_^


End file.
